By Scott Gilfoid: Interim WBA World super middleweight champion Vincent Feigenbutz (21-1, 19 KOs) will be defending his title against #14 WBA Giovanni De Carolis (23-6, 11 KOs) in a rematch in two weeks from now on January 9th at the Baden-Arena, in Offenburg, Germany.
Feigenbutz, 20, previously defeated Italy’s De Carolina by a 12 round unanimous decision last October by the scores of 115-113, 114-113, and 115-113. However, there was so much controversy surrounding the outcome of the fight that the two fighters will have to do it again.
Hopefully this will be the last time they have to face each other. De Carolis, 31, knocked Feigenbutz down in the 1st round of their fight last October. De Carolina controlled the early rounds of the fight, but Feigenbutz definitely came on in the second half of the contest to get the better of De Carolis.
However, there were many rounds that were toss up rounds that could have gone either fighter’s way. I had Feigenbutz winning the fight by a narrow decision, but it could have gone either way. Neither fighter looked good. It just looked like the younger, more powerful Feigenbutz landed the better punches in the stretch round of the fight.
“We expect a more aggressive Vincent Feigenbutz who wants to prove himself,” De Carolis’ trainer Italo Mattioli said to Fightnews.com. “But I can’t imagine that he’ll be greatly improved when it comes to technique and ringcraft. Giovanni, however, can calmly approach the fight because he knows in what areas he’s superior. It won’t be more difficult or easier than the first fight.”
If Feigenbutz can’t beat De Carolis in the rematch, then he really needs to think seriously about backing off from fighting top tier opposition until he’s older because right now, I think Feigenbutz is still too green and raw to be fighting the top guys. De Carolis is basically a bottom feeder and anyone with a tiny bit of talent should be able to beat him in the super middleweight division.
The fact that Feigenbutz had to struggle to defeat him suggests that he;’s not ready to fight at the highest level in the division. As such, Feigenbutz should think about giving up his interim WBA super middleweight strap if he struggles to beat this guy a second time because it should not be hard for him to beat him if he were any good.
What was sad was that Feigenbutz came into their previous fight last October wanting to fight WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham and the WBA “regular” 168lb champion. Never the less, Feigenbutz’s performance against De Carolis showed that he’s not ready for either of those fighters at this early stage of his career.
In a way, De Carolina did Feigenbutz a favor by almost beating him, because he showed that he does not belong in the same ring with Chudinov and Abraham. The thing is if Feigenbutz can’t even beat a limited fighter like De Carolis, then no way does he rate against the real talents in the 168lb division like the Dirrell brothers.
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